230?

GM's Volt viral advertising imageHave you heard the big buzz about the awesome new Volt EREV scheduled to come out next year?

Chances are if you’ve heard about it, it hasn’t been with a positive spin. I’ve heard about it on NPR, where its not-yet-EPA-verified 230 miles per gallon claims were questioned, and on a few marketing sites critiquing the many missed opportunities of the campaign.

Over at Dim Bulb marketing, Jonathan Baskin does a fantastic job of summarizing the campaign’s most crucial failures in three short points we can all apply to our own work. From his observations on making the mileage achievement more tangible to some simple but thoughtful suggestions for creating the viral campaign GM wanted (Hint: customer’s perspective, not GM’s), his comments are likely to have executives at GM incredulously slapping their foreheads.

If GM missed these points with all of the people, dollars and experience it devotes to marketing and advertising even now, it seems pretty likely that the rest of us forget to think about them sometimes too.  Thanks for the topical reminder Jonathan.